Virtual Crime Book Club – catching up

The Virtual Crime Book Club is hosted by Rebecca Bradley, author of the D I Hannah Robbins and D I Claudia Nunn series as well as standalone novels.

Rebecca is a great host and often gets the authors to come along and chat with us. You can find out more on Rebecca’s website.

Warning!

You can watch the meetings below. Be aware they may contain spoilers so, if you’re planning to read the book, it may be better not to watch them until you’ve done so.

A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee

Monday 28th March 8pm GMT (British time zone).

India, 1920. Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force investigate the dramatic assassination of a Maharajah’s son.The fabulously wealthy kingdom of Sambalpore is home to tigers, elephants, diamond mines and the beautiful Palace of the Sun. But when the heir to the throne is assassinated in the presence of Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant ‘Surrender-Not’ Banerjee, they discover a kingdom riven with suppressed conflict. Prince Adhir was a moderniser whose attitudes – and romantic relationship – may have upset the more religious elements of his country, while his brother – now in line to the throne – appears to be a feckless playboy.As Wyndham and Banerjee desperately try to unravel the mystery behind the assassination, they become entangled in a dangerous world where those in power live by their own rules and those who cross their paths pay with their lives. They must find a murderer, before the murderer finds them…

Link: March Book Club meeting

My thoughts

Book two is another wonderful book in this terrific series. I have previously read book one A Rising Man – this link will give lot’s of information as well as my thoughts on that book.

The Dying Squad by Adam Simcox

Monday 25th April 8pm GMT (British time zone)

WHO BETTER TO SOLVE A MURDER THAN A DEAD DETECTIVE?

When Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus storms a Lincolnshire farmhouse, he expects to bring down a notorious drug gang; instead, he discovers his own body and a spirit guide called Daisy-May.

She’s there to enlist him to The Dying Squad, a spectral police force who solve crimes their flesh and blood counterparts cannot.

Lazarus reluctantly accepts and returns to the Lincolnshire Badlands, where he faces dangers from both the living and the dead in his quest to discover the identity of his killer—before they kill again.

Link: The author, Adam Simcox, joined the book club meeting. Here it is:

Note: I was unable to attend this month’s book club.

Good as Dead by Susan Walter

Monday 23rd May 8 pm BST (UK time zone).

It all starts with a promise from a stranger: We’ll take care of everything.

Holly Kendrick’s husband is dead. Holly saw it all. In one violent moment, a hit-and-run accident turns Holly’s life upside down. Then a fixer for the high-powered guilty party approaches Holly with an offer she is in no position to refuse. Holly and her daughter, Savannah, will want for nothing, beginning with a luxury dream house—all for the price of their silence. But when their sudden appearance in privileged Calabasas, California, piques the curiosity of neighbors, the price becomes greater than they imagined. Because Holly and Savannah aren’t the only ones in the neighborhood with something to hide.

Told from alternating points of view, Good as Dead draws together an unlikely group of people bound to one another by a crime, a cover-up, and compounding deceptions. As carefully constructed lives begin to crumble, how far will everyone be willing to go to bury the truth and protect the people they love?

Link: May Book Club meeting – the author, Susan Walter, came along to chat with the book club this month.

Note: I was unable to attend this month’s book club.

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox

Monday 20th June, BST.

In the early hours of Saturday 17 December 2011, Zoe Nolan, a nineteen-year-old Manchester University student, walked out of a party taking place in the shared accommodation where she had been living for three months.

She was never seen again.

Seven years after her disappearance, struggling writer Evelyn Mitchell finds herself drawn into the mystery. Through interviews with Zoe’s closest friends and family, she begins piecing together what really happened in 2011. But where some versions of events overlap, aligning perfectly with one another, others stand in stark contrast, giving rise to troubling inconsistencies.

Shaken by revelations of Zoe’s secret life, and stalked by a figure from the shadows, Evelyn turns to crime writer Joseph Knox to help make sense of a case where everyone has something to hide.

Zoe Nolan may be missing presumed dead, but her story is only just beginning.

Link: June Book Club meeting

My thoughts

This is the first book that I have read by Joseph Knox and I did enjoy it. It’s quite a different style of writing so, as with me, it may take a little while to get into it but it’s well worthwhile doing so.

This is another of my #20booksofsummer22 reads.

True Crime Story has been short listed for the Old Peculiar crime novel of the year (2022) – congratulations!

Joseph Knox, the author, joined us at the beginning of June’s book club which was great. He seems to be a lovely guy and chatted with us for a good while, it’s well worth watching the meeting.

Information: You can check out all the authors books and lots of other stuff on his website Joseph Knox. Or follow him on Twitter .

Like to join?

Thinking of joining the virtual crime book club. Details of how to sign up can be found HERE.